Travel Review: Old Town Trolley Tours - Washington, D.C

A sightseeing vacation in Washington, D.C. wouldn't be complete without taking a bus tour of the historic sights. One of the top tour companies in Washington, D.C. is Old Town Trolley Tours. I recently took one of their tours while on vacation.

Old Town Trolley Tours has three trolley routes (or "loops"). The orange loop passes by the National Mall and Downtown. The green loop shows the National Cathedral, Uptown and Georgetown. The red loop travels to Arlington National Cemetery. My family took the orange loop, since it was my kids' first time in the nation's capital and we wanted to see the monuments.

All three loops have a total of 19 combined stops. One trolley fare entitles the rider to board and disembark at any stop. Due to the unseasonably warm weather and tired children in tow, we decided to stay on for the entire loop. All tours start at the Old Town Trolley welcome center at 11^th and E Streets.

The orange loop should last 90 minutes. However, we were there during the Cherry Blossom weekend and gridlock was prevalent all over the district. Our ride lasted almost two hours. Because of the traffic, the driver had to forgo stopping at the Jefferson Memorial. The cherry blossoms are located in the Tidal Basin, which is also the site of the Jefferson Memorial.

A highlight of our tour was catching an unobstructed view of the White House. At each monument or sight, the trolley comes to a full stop and passengers are allowed to get on or off. Most of the people on our tour remained on the vehicle for the entire loop.

Next, we stopped in front of the Capitol building. This stop provided an excellent photo opportunity. The Old Town Trolley vehicles are actual trolleys which have open windows in the warm weather. The open windows allow for perfect photos without having to disembark the bus.

The orange loop rides along the back sides of the Smithsonian museums which are located on the National Mall. The driver pointed out the National Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian Castle and the Hirschhorn Museum.

We also passed a new museum with interesting architecture; the Smithsonian American Indian Museum. Due to ancient American Indian custom, this building only has rounded corners. There are no 90° angles in the entire museum.

Other stops which provided excellent views were the Washington Monument and Union Station. Due to the heavy foot and vehicle traffic, we couldn't stop in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The passengers were able to get a glimpse of the Memorial's side but we couldn't see Lincoln's face.

Despite the missed monuments, Old Town Trolley Tours is an excellent way to sightsee in Washington, D.C. while relaxing on an open air trolley. Other times of the year or mid-week might be better for avoiding gridlock.

Adult tickets are $35, children's tickets are $18 (for ages 4 to 18), and children under 4 are free. There are extra discounts for purchasing tickets online (www.trolleytours.com).